Good Morning! Happy Friday! The trails were groomed last evening. Expect them to be firm and fast in the morning and to soften up by early afternoon. The photo below was taken at 7:30pm last evening. Long days and excellent skiing!
GROOMED:
- Starlight
- Caboose and Cabin Lanes
- Essex Road
- Spring Hill
- Pileated
- Towering Pines
- Kendi’s Crossing
- Highline
- Essex Creek
- Junction Circle
Friday, the beginning of our last weekend of corduroy on our lovely trails. Spring is such a lovely time. While it is tough seeing the snow melting away, it is fun seeing spring sights. Yesterday, in front of the Inn, I watched a robin taking a bath in a puddle. It looked so darn happy, I was almost tempted to head up to Marion Creek can take one myself. While there is not any solid proof as to why birds bath, it is thought they do so to keep their feathers in good shape and to rid themselves of parasites. It has been found that an bird who has bathed, has more agility when flying.
According to askanaturalist.com, “Feathers are amazing adaptations for both flight and insulation, but they don’t come without cost. In fact, one study found that across a wide range of species, birds averaged over 9% of their time preening. Some species spend a full quarter of their life cleaning and rearranging their feathers. A bird feather is constructed of a central shaft with lattice-like branches. Coming off the branches are short shafts with rows of barbs which interlock, something like hundreds of tiny zippers. Any time a bird’s feathers are contacted, some of the tiny zippers may shift and come undone. It probably even happens just when the bird is flying. Unless the bird rezips the feather structures several times a day, it would grow more and more ragged and the feathers would become less and less sturdy. Eventually, the bird would find it pretty hard to fly well. This could mean the difference between life and death to a bird trying to escape a predator.”